Gen 19 | EE | STEP | The 2 angels arrived at Sodom. It was evening. Lot was sitting at the city gate. Lot saw the angels. He got up to meet them. He bowed down. He put his face to the ground.

Genesis 19

Lot leaves Sodom

1 The 2 angels arrived at Sodom. It was evening. Lot was sitting at the city gate. Lot saw the angels. He got up to meet them. He bowed down. He put his face to the ground. 2 Lot said ‘My lords, please come to my house. You can wash your feet and stay the night there. You can continue your journey early in the morning.’ The angels replied, ‘No, we will stay the night in the square.’ ^{▼▼19:2 The square is a large open space. It is in the middle of the city. People often meet there.}

3 But Lot asked them to stay with him again. So they went with Lot. The angels went to Lot’s house. Lot prepared a meal for them. He made special bread. The angels ate the food. ^{▼▼19:3 This special bread was quick to make. It did not have any yeast. Cooks put yeast in other bread to make it rise.}

4 They had not yet gone to bed. All the men from every part of Sodom came to the house. Old and young men came. They were all outside the house. 5 The men said ‘Where are the men who are staying with you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them’ 6 Lot went outside to the men. He shut the door of his house. 7 Lot said, ‘No, my friends. Do not do this bad thing. 8 I have 2 daughters. They have never had sex with a man. Let me bring them out to you. You can do whatever you want with them. But do not do anything to these men. They are staying at my house. I cannot let anyone hurt them.’ 9 The men from the city said ‘Get out of our way. You are a foreign person in this city. Now you are telling us what to do! We will do worse things to you.’ They pushed Lot. They began to break the door of his house. 10 The 2 men inside the house pulled Lot. They pulled him back into his house. They shut the door. 11 Then they made the men outside blind. They made the young men blind. They also made the old men blind. This was so that they could not find the door to the house. ^{▼▼19:11 Blind means that the men could not see anything.}

12 The 2 men spoke to Lot. They said, ‘Do you have any people belonging to you here? Do you have men who are going to marry your daughters? Do you have sons or daughters? Do you have any people belonging to you in the city? If you do, get them out of here. 13 We are going to destroy this city. The outcry against this city is great. The LORD has sent us to destroy it.’ 14 Lot went out. He spoke to the men who were going to marry his daughters. Lot said to them, ‘Hurry! Leave this place because the LORD is going to destroy this city.’ But the men laughed.

15 At dawn, the angels said to Lot, ‘Hurry! Take your wife. And take your 2 daughters that are here. If not, you will all be killed when the city is destroyed.’ 16 Lot did not go with the angels at once. So the angels held on to Lot’s hand. And they held the hands of his wife and his 2 daughters. The angels led them away from the city, because the LORD was merciful to them. ^{▼▼19:16 Lot and his family did not want to leave Sodom. They would be leaving everything that they had.}

17 As soon as the angel brought them out he said, ‘Run! Your life is in danger. Do not look back. Do not stop anywhere on this land. Run to the mountains or you will die.’ 18 But Lot said, ‘No! Please, my lords! 19 You are happy with me, your servant. You have been very kind to me. You have saved my life. But I cannot run to the mountains. This evil will over take me. Then I will die.’

20 Lot said, ‘Look! Here is a town. It is near. I can run to it. And the town is small. Let me run to it. The town is very small. Then I will stay alive.’ 21 The angel said to Lot, ‘Very well, I will let you do what you have asked. I will not destroy the town of which you speak. 22 But run to the town quickly. I cannot do anything until you get to the town.’ (The name of the town was Zoar.) 23 The sun had risen in the sky. Then Lot reached Zoar.

24 Then the LORD made it rain. He made it rain burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah. The burning sulphur came from the LORD. It came out of the heavens. ^{▼▼19:24 God used hot sulphur to destroy the cities. Sulphur is yellow. It burns quickly with a lot of heat. But when it gets cold, it becomes like stone. Hot sulphur covered the cities and the people in them. It would burn them. Then it would become like stone over everything in the city.}

25 So God destroyed those cities. He killed everyone who lived in those cities. And he killed all the plants that grew on that land.

26 But Lot’s wife looked back at the city. And she changed into a large piece of salt. ^{▼▼19:26 The angel had told Lot and his family not to look back (verse 17).}

27 Early the next morning, Abraham returned to where he had stood before the LORD. 28 He looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah. And he looked down towards all the land near the cities. He saw thick smoke. It was rising from the land. It was the smoke from a big fire.

29 God destroyed the cities of that land. And Lot lived in these cities. But God had remembered Abraham. God brought Lot out of the cities, before he destroyed them.

Lot and his daughters

30 Lot was afraid to live in Zoar. So, he and his 2 daughters stayed in the mountains. Lot and his 2 daughters lived in the rocks in the side of the mountain. 31 The oldest daughter said to the youngest daughter, ‘Our father is old. And there is no other man here. So, we will not have any man to marry us. Then we will not have children. Everyone on the earth wants to have children. 32 Let us cause our father to drink wine. Then we will have sex with him. Then our family will continue.’ ^{▼▼19:32 Drinking too much wine makes you drunk.}

33 That night they gave their father wine to drink. And the oldest daughter had sex with him. Lot did not know when she came to him. And he did not know when she left him. 34 The next day the oldest daughter said to the youngest daughter, ‘Last night I had sex with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight. Then you can have sex with him. Then our family line will continue through him.’ 35 So that night, they gave their father wine to drink. And the youngest daughter had sex with her father. He did not know when she came to him. And he did not know when she left him. 36 Both of Lot’s daughters would give birth to a baby. This was because they had both had sex with their father. 37 The oldest daughter had a son. She called him Moab. All the Moabites of today are his descendants. 38 The youngest daughter also had a son. She called him Ben-Ammi. All the Ammonites of today are his descendants.